Becoming epic and You've Got Mail

Becoming epic will mean different things to different people but to Wil.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, epic means compounding the impact of opportunities when possible.

“You’ve Got Mail” offers a reminder that business always has a personal element to it – no matter how big or small the business may be.

Becoming Epic

Each interview I’ve heard with Wil.i.am has increased my interest in knowing more about him. His Master’s of Scale interview with Reid Hoffman was no different.

Did you notice the Beats logo on the field during the 2011 Super Bowl performance of the Black Eyed Peas? Probably not but in rewatching it recently I noticed it immediately. The NFL was against putting a logo on the field, but Wil.i.am came up with a creative way to make it happen. Same as he found a creative way to get Salesforce an ad spot in a “sold out” game.

Throughout the interview, Wil.i.am reveals other ways he has taken opportunities and made them even bigger than they could have been – including how a Black Eyed Peas song became the first song ever broadcast from space.

You’ve Got Mail and keeping business personal

I had forgotten how much I like the movie You’ve Got Mail until I watched it with my daughter over the Thanksgiving holiday. As I watched it this time, I noticed the business lessons I’d never paid attention to before. One being that there is always a personal element to business – even when you don’t think there is.

Of course, my attention to this idea is heightened by Joey Coleman’s statement in Never Lose A Customer Again – he says that all business is H2H (human to human), not B2B or B2C. And chapter 7 in The Infinite Game on Trusting Teams shares the success teams can accomplish when they trust each other – which is only accomplished when you truly KNOW your team members.